From Iceland — Mayor Of Small Icelandic Town At War With Google Maps

Mayor Of Small Icelandic Town At War With Google Maps

Published March 8, 2019

Andie Sophia Fontaine
Photo by
Google Maps

The mayor of Bolungarvík has taken great exception with Google Maps, as satellite imagery of the town shows it buried in snow, year round.

As can be seen by the above image, the northwest Iceland town of Bolungarvík is depicted in Google Maps satellite imagery as being buried in snow, no matter what time of year you might view it. As Fréttablaðið reports, Bolungarvík mayor Jón Páll Hreinsson is not taking the matter lying down.

In a Facebook post about the matter, Jón says that it “really gets on my nerves that part of the Westfjörds (amongst them Bolungarvík) is covered with snow in Google Maps. I find this annoying each time I use the map, for example to gauge travel times between places.” (Article continues after post)

In a conversation with Fréttablaðið, Jón says that he uses the Google Maps feedback system to send a correction to the company every single day. He has vowed to continue doing this until satellite imagery of the area does not depict the town covered in snow year round.

We can assure you that no place in Iceland (with the exception of the glaciers) is covered in ice and snow all year round—least of all Bolungarvík.

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